In the Alley
by Prime627
Summary: A sparkling is abandoned in an alley due to careless parents. Will the sparkling survive? And who is this little sparkling that no one would care for? ((Lyrics: Matthew West's "Two Houses"))


_Well, Mom found her a new place to live_

_And Dad found him a new girlfriend_

_Looks like every- body's moving on_

_And it's, "Hey, look on the bright side kid,_

_Now you've got two Christmases_

_And it's every other weekend from now on"_

_Yeah, but all I want is the way it was_

_When love would always last forever_

_And families stayed together_

He closed his little optics as he huddled up into the ratty blanket. He pretended that it was his mother or his father. He found that if he pretended, he could also pretend that he was not where he was: curled up in a little box in an alley with his sparkling blanket. He wanted to cry, but there was a tiny sparkling in the dumpster beside him that was sobbing, quieter and quieter and quieter as time went on.

Instead, he squeezed his optics shut and he pretended that the sparkling beside him was not dying.

_Back to the day before two houses_

_When they held my hands when I was little_

_Before I got caught in the middle_

_Somewhere in between two houses_

He remembered the fights his carrier and his sire had in the middle of the night. He remembered waking up and howling for someone to cradle him and tell him that it was going to be okay.

They never did. Instead, the house went silent as his carrier went to one city, and his sire went to the other.

Sometimes, he would howl and sob for days before his sire would return home, curse, and tell him to shut up, that he was tired and he needed some sleep, as if it was his sparkling's fault.

The little sparkling didn't even know what was going on.

_'Cause these two houses sure don't feel like home_

_Wide-eyed wonder grows up fast_

_Trust is shot and nothing lasts_

_And I'm thinking maybe it was all my fault_

_And will I ever get back to_

_The innocence that I once knew_

_Before that Summer turned into Fall_

He knew now what was going on. His sire was cheating on his carrier, and she was mad, although she was cheating on him. He had just been a mistake, a mistake that could easily be silenced by dumping in an alley next to an abandoned newborn. The newborn sparkling had lasted so far, and he was impressed.

He leaned against the box's walls and he started to fall asleep, tears rolling down his cheeks as he whined lowly. The sparkling was quiet now, quietly snuffling among the garbage. Quiet snuffling around the _other_ scraps of garbage that no one wants, Magnus corrected silently. _Like myself._

_When I close my eyes, I go back in time_

_When love would always last forever_

_And families stayed together_

_Back to the day before two houses_

_You were holding my hand when I was little_

_You were there when I was in the middle_

_Somewhere in between two houses_

He tried to remember what either of his parents looked like, but all he had left was fading memories. All he could really remember was their screaming and their arguing, and the way he howled and sobbed and begged for his carrier to hold him. He pressed his dirty little face into the blanket and he sobbed quietly as he had when he was a sparkling.

He cried for his carrier, he cried for his sire, he cried for the love he missed when he was a day old. He cried for the now-quiet baby in the dumpster beside him. He wished he could climb into there, to tell him that it would all be okay now that he was there.

But he was hardly three days old himself. He had to tip his little helm all the way back just to see the top of the dumpster. He sobbed louder with hopelessness and fear.

_I heard about a love that never leaves_

_So I'm asking you to show me_

_I'm talking to You down here on my knees_

_Feels like You've always known me_

He suddenly felt warm. He heard the sparkling start to liven up again and he sighed in relief. He curled up in his little box, half asleep, and half listening to the sparkling gurgle and coo in the garbage. He giggled when the sparkling sneezed, then he looked up at the stars.

A mech was standing over him and he shyly hid his face.

_Do not be afraid, my dearest creation,_ the mech said as he knelt and he brushed his digits fondly over the sparkling's helm in a caress.

He didn't feel the touch.

But he felt the _warmth_ and the _power_ that came with the touch. He smiled up at the mech and he found he could see the stars through him.

_You are favored, my little one. You are both favored._

And the mech was gone.

_When love would always last forever_

_And families stayed together_

_Back to the day before two houses_

_You were holding my hand when I was little_

_You were there when I was in the middle_

_Somewhere in between two houses_

_These two houses_

_These two houses_

He heard commotion in the morning. He stood up in his box to look around, expecting the see-through mech to be there, but instead he was greeted by a different mech, one that was not see-through.

"I have one over here! No, wait! I have a newborn! I repeat, I have a newborn!"

A femme ran over and she dug around in the dumpster. "He's so little…" She lifted a silver mechling and she cradled him against her chest. "He must have been just dumped here. He's warm and he's pudgy."

"That's good. This little one is warm-ish, and he's kinda skinny. How long have you been here, little one?"

He was in too much of a daze. The sparkling had been in the dumpster longer than he had been in the alley.

How was the mechling healthier than he was? Then he remembered what the mech said and he blinked in understanding.

They were meant to live.

The mech lifted him out of the box and he draped him over his shoulder, patting his back and aft fondly. "You're gonna be okay, kid. My name is Tailwhip. What's yours?"

He didn't answer. He was watching the femme coo to the sparkling in her arms.

"Alright, kiddo, if you don't have one, I'm going to name you myself." He set the sparking down on his lap as he sat against a wall, waiting as the rest of the team of Rescuers joined him. "I'm gonna call you Magnus." He rubbed the sparkling's helm. "And when you grow into it, you will be called Ultra Magnus, how about that? Think you can grow up big and strong to be called Ultra Magnus?"

He giggled and nodded eagerly, closing his optics when the mech rubbed his helm again. Then his rescuer turned to the femme. "Have you named that one yet?"

"I think I'm going to call him Megatronus."

"After the Fallen? Kinda risky…"

"The Fallen's name was Nova Prime, you aft, but he was affectionately known as Megatronus before he Fell. Remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, the Thirteenth called him Megatronus, didn't he? Primus, I wonder who knew the Thirteenth's name…"

The femme shifted the sparkling in her arms. "I betcha Alpha T. knows…"

"I bet he does, but he ain't tellin' no one diddly-doo-da."

"I love your use of words, Tailwhip. It's really great."

"Thank you, Starshine. I appreciate you taking notice of my illiteracy."

"I'm going to hit you."

Ultra Magnus giggled against the mech's chest, and the mech rubbed his back fondly.

"You're making him giggle," Tailwhip complained. "You know I hate giggling! Stop giggling! Stop it!"

Tailwhip began to tickle him, and that made the little sparkling giggle louder.

"Alright! That's all of them! Let's head back to the orphanage!"

Tailwhip and Starshine stood with their sparklings in their arms, then they followed the Rescuers to the orphanage.

Tailwhip smiled down at him as he registered Magnus in the orphanage. "His name is Ultra Magnus. He's underweight, and tiny, but he will recover. He is to be paired with Nightowl and Dagger. I think those two will help him grow up."

Magnus pressed his face into Tailwhip's chest and he fell asleep soundly, for the first time in three days.

_But tonight my heart has finally found a home_


End file.
